Aiguière
The Aiguière ( French "water jug") is a watering vessel that was in use from the Middle Ages to the Baroque .
Aiguière with basin by Maria Theresa
Maucher jug
The Aiguière is made mostly of precious metals, but also of rock crystal or tin beak pot with a vertical Henkel. It is usually richly decorated and has a broad beak. As a pouring utensil , it appears together with an associated basin and was used to rinse hands over after the meal.
From the 16th century onwards, aiguirs were made in an antique style, they increasingly lost their actual function and were finally only made as decorative objects. In the Baroque era, they were used in a splendid version made of ivory as a centerpiece , which was also called Maucher jugs after the ivory carver Johann Michael Maucher , who lived in Schwäbisch Gmünd and who specialized in such vessels .